September 8, 2025 | 12:13 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is suspected of being quite late in finding out about the wave of mass demonstrations at the end of August 2025, which resulted in riots that killed a motorcycle taxi driver, Affan Kurniawan. Affan was crushed by a tactical vehicle belonging to the National Police's Mobile Brigade during the dissolution of protesters near the House of Representatives (DPR) building on Jalan Pejompongan, Central Jakarta on Thursday night, August 28, 2025.
Two officials in the Presidential Palace said there was an effort to isolate Prabowo from the actual events. Before Affan Kurniawan was killed, Prabowo received a report from the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) that the protests, which had been ongoing since August 25, 2025, were peaceful.
Therefore, it is rumored that the President reprimanded the head of the BIN, Muhammad Herindra, because the situation on the ground did not match the report. The reprimand was delivered by Prabowo when meeting Herindra at the State Palace on Sunday, August 31, 2025. Prabowo also mentioned Herindra's promotion. However, Herindra denied the information. "Wrong," he said in a text message on Friday, September 5, 2025.
In addition to the inaccurate intelligence report, two government officials said that the isolation of information was carried out by the President's trusted individuals. They collectively withheld the information. Prabowo only found out about Affan's death and the violent mob on Friday morning, August 29, 2025, the day after the incident.
This incident left Prabowo in disarray. As a result, the wave of demonstrations quickly spread to various cities in Indonesia.
The Palace's efforts to isolate the President are elaborated in detail in Tempo magazine's report in the September 7, 2025 edition titled "Tarik Menarik Darurat Militer Meredam Demontrasi Pembubaran DPR" (Tug of War: Military Emergency to Quell the Dissolution of the DPR Protests). This report also reveals the reasons why the Head of State refrained from dismissing the Chief of Police, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
Fransisca Christy Rosana contributed to the writing of this article.
Editor's Choice: BRIN Researcher Says Prabowo "Hasty" in Labeling Riots as Treason
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